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Archive for October, 2010

Death-Who says it’s a natural part of life?

Who said this could be true, but when you are in a hospital room, doctor on call and tells you your 50 year old man has died after collapsing at work, you want answers.

An autopsy study shows that your husband had an aortic aneurysm (a weakened blood vessel) that failed. Do you remember that your husband had complained of back pain increased in recent weeks, and a visit to his primary care physician resulted in a muscle by prescription only. You will then learn that if your husband had an aneurysm discovered, it could have been treated electively, and he lived a long healthy life. Now you want more answers.

Do something simply unanswered questions hanging fester and build steam. Family members often point the finger at those who are close to the victim. The surfaces of guilt quickly. “Why did not you do more to help?” “Why did not you get him to go to the doctor again?” “Why did not you take her to the hospital?”

When a family member dies, not involving an accident, we all want to know why? Since we can examine the body and determine what was the cause of death, we look to doctors who perform searches of the body after death. This is known as an autopsy. These doctors are called doctors or pathologists.

The doctor opens and literally watch and investigate. The medical examiner must review each system of our body, circulation (heart, arteries, veins), breathing (lung, mouth, trachea), renal (kidney, ureter, urethra) … literally all of our internal organs and our external agencies.

At the end of the study, when the doctor conclusions about the cause of death. Since we are a litigious society generally, many pathologists are aware of being blunt and pointing to a culprit who could have killed someone. But in their own subtle way, a forensic pathologist and often indicate the exact cause of death of your loved one.

Once you know why your loved one is dead, it is often possible to take a step back and look at its condition in the coming weeks and months prior to his death. Patient data are valuable as well as medical examinations are close in time to death. Questions that the good medical malpractice lawyer always wants to know are:

(1) Was the misconduct or a misdiagnosis, which should have been detected? (2) Was the misconduct or to diagnose cause or contribute to death?

Finally, a good lawyer wants to know,

If the condition is detected and treated early, the result would be different? Let death have been avoided?

If the answer is “yes” to all these questions, then it seems that you are an ongoing case in New York. How do we know if the answer to every “yes”? We need to hire a medical expert to review all the accounts of their loved one.

The expert doctor needs to put all the puzzle pieces together to respond to all the “why.” Hospitals, medical visits, interviews with family members and the autopsy report are all part of the puzzle.

Sitting doing nothing does not solve anything. Get answers at your loved one die is crucial, especially when you suspect abuse or illegality.

Neglect has been in the news lately due to the rising costs of malpractice insurance for physicians. Some doctors even had to close their practices due to this problem. For doctors try to do without falling into the embezzlement issues can be frustrating. However, there are some methods that can help prevent problems with embezzlement.

Many of the doctors to follow a process known as SOAP. This process defines simple steps to ensure the patient is fully aware of the situation and that the doctor will cover all the necessary elements. Some additions to the SOAP procedure, which can be used to continue to provide some of the doctor and patient safety. Here are some simple steps, your doctor may make the patient feel more comfortable and reduces the possibility of abuse behind.

- Include the patient in all decision-making. Physicians should explain all the options, outcomes and risks to patients.

- Maintain a clear and complete documentation. Documentation is often a key element of negligence. Maintain a clear and complete documentation can help save a doctor when the court.

- Check for important information. This is especially true when the patient is not clear. Checking and rechecking things as vital signs and keep documented will help your doctor better treat the patient.

- Protect all sensitive during an examination. Always have an assistant present during the execution of a breast or genital examination. You have an assistant to note in the documentation that he or she was present during the entire examination.

- Clearly express their opinions on facts. Patients should always understand the difference between facts and opinions when making statements about the diagnosis, etc.

- Ensure that patients clearly understand the medicine. Patients should know when and how to take prescribed medication and the name of the drug. This avoids many problems.

- Spend time with patients. Do not rush through examinations and be prepared to answer any questions the patient may have.

These tips are some ways to help prevent malpractice or negligence, if not to help get through the following questions. Negligence is not good for anyone. Doctors and patients pay pay for negligence. Avoid bad practice is in the best interest of all. Take all possible steps to ensure that patients receive the best care and comfort is the best way to avoid problems of malpractice.

Your client has accused a major medical malpractice. His case goes to trial, and his first witness is highly respected physician. How to examine the disadvantages?

1. Learn that medicine is as much as possible involved in the case.

You must be a mini-medical expert to get up before the Court to question the doctor. Read the books of medicine, literature, and the use of other doctors and experts to teach medicine.

2. Ask direct questions head.

You must keep a tight leash on the witnesses against you-examination. If you ask an open question (“Tell us why the patient bled to death …”) Doctor you will suffer the dire consequences of a conference of 10 minutes the jury at this medical testimony. Significant errors. You do not want the jury to see how educated and this doctor is wonderful. You want them to see how he answers your questions.

“You made Mrs. Jones 1 year ago?”

“You pierced the aorta, while examining his nose?”

“The patient subsequently bled to death, boring, right?”

“Good medical practice dictates that when you perform this procedure, you should stay away from the aorta, right?”

“The field is not in aortic surgery, is not it?”

Do not ask “So how do you break aortic while this procedure?” (This is an open question.) Rather than asking, “Did you expect puncutre the aorta during the procedure? ” “What steps have you taken to ensure the puncture did not occur?” … And so it goes.

3. Do not ask a question, when you do not know the answer!

During a trial, you will have many opportunities to learn what happened. In New York, this is called the discovery phase of the prosecution. If you are on trial, and not know the answer to a specific question, I strongly suggest you not ask the question, unless the answer is absolutely no harm to you or in your case. Remember, you never know what will come out of the mouth of witnesses.

This is a great example. Dispute between two men in the park. And ‘the twilight. Cry was heard, and witnesses screaming turns around and sees two men standing close to each other. The nose of a man is gone and his face is bleeding profusely. Another man is just standing.

On the stand, defense counsel asked the witness if his client was actually biting off man’s nose. The witness replied: “No, I did not.”

“Then you do not know my client was the one who bit ‘out of your nose?”

“Oh, well, I’m sure. It was his client.”

“Really, how can you be so sure?” ask a lawyer.

“Ever since I saw you spit out your man’s nose out of his mouth!”

Interrogation of a doctor is not easy. Experience is the key to learning and all the medical help they can to frame the questions.